It's been 7 or maybe 8 weeks since Charlottesville has had any measurable rain.I for one, am enjoying the sound. Oliver, however, doesn't like to go pee pee in the rain. So he runs out, goes pee and runs in. He then scrubs his wet little self on my sofa makes growling noises and stands back beside the door.
This means he needs to pee a bit more. So we repeat! UGH!
I have a nasty cold right now, thanks to my punk children. Although, I have decided to give myself a break and take a day off. How do you "take a day off" when you aren't even employed outside of the home you ask? Well, it means I'm on facebook for wwaaayyyy longer than I need to be, I got to chat online with my sister in law, I ate lunch at 11:30, I am going to watch TV and maybe nap. I am considering a hot bourbon toddy later, as well.
I do hope I wake up in time to get the kids from the bus stop... they really get upset when I make them walk home in the rain. I can't blame them- I don't like to walk in the rain either. It makes my hair all frizzy and stringy and weirder than normal.
We have alsoi had a STINK BUG invasion this year! What the heck! I hate those things and they seem to be everywhere right now. Maybe the 2+ inches of rain we get today will drown them? A girl can dream....
Off to watch my DVR cop shows that Scott hates and hopefully take a nap curled up with Oliver (who is now dry!)
SugarBunnies
Puerto Rico
Monday, September 27, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
You spin my head right round - right round...
I am writing because I hope someone will answer my question. WHY do people in this house not clean up after themselves???????? Am I a maid? I don't think so.
I never ever signed a contract that said "and you will clean up after everyone else". I didn't.... really. I would remember that, because I wouldn't have signed.
I hate cleaning, hate it hate it hate it. It's why my house is a mess. If I just had to pick up after little ol' "me" things would look great. I would even vacuum more. I don't get to the vacuuming part because I am cleaning up things like:
*make-up on Denton's bathroom vanity
*cotton balls from God knows where that Oliver gets ahold of and shreds
*socks - just one here and there, never two together. I gathered 9 socks this morning - 9! Where's 10?
*index cards are scattered in my hearth room MY hearth room, MY place of calmness and quiet - I am BTW - NOT picking those up.
*dirty clothes in the upstairs hall. HALL. .....Not...... their rooms with baskets for the dirty stuff to go in, just flung hither and yonder, like someone had a lets be nekked party on the way to take a shower...
*bowls, cups, spoons, diet Pepsi cans, mail, and several men's ties on the kitchen counter
Now, please don't think that I am blameless here. I do leave a cup or two or 10 around. It's my downfall. BUT and I am, screaming BBBUUUTTT ....... I left them, me, me, me and I am cleaning them up. Why don't the other oxygen consuming individuals that live here do the same. What a novel idea? Oh Lord! The answer...let's clean up after ones self.... then the mommy person can cook and vacuum and walk the dog and polish the baseboards and iron daddy's shirts INSTEAD of spending well over an hour picking up stuff that doesnt belong to me!
I'm just sayin'
OK rant over - I'm going upstairs now to scrub peanut butter off the kitchen island and put away the honey and bread (which is surely stale by now)
I never ever signed a contract that said "and you will clean up after everyone else". I didn't.... really. I would remember that, because I wouldn't have signed.
I hate cleaning, hate it hate it hate it. It's why my house is a mess. If I just had to pick up after little ol' "me" things would look great. I would even vacuum more. I don't get to the vacuuming part because I am cleaning up things like:
*make-up on Denton's bathroom vanity
*cotton balls from God knows where that Oliver gets ahold of and shreds
*socks - just one here and there, never two together. I gathered 9 socks this morning - 9! Where's 10?
*index cards are scattered in my hearth room MY hearth room, MY place of calmness and quiet - I am BTW - NOT picking those up.
*dirty clothes in the upstairs hall. HALL. .....Not...... their rooms with baskets for the dirty stuff to go in, just flung hither and yonder, like someone had a lets be nekked party on the way to take a shower...
*bowls, cups, spoons, diet Pepsi cans, mail, and several men's ties on the kitchen counter
Now, please don't think that I am blameless here. I do leave a cup or two or 10 around. It's my downfall. BUT and I am, screaming BBBUUUTTT ....... I left them, me, me, me and I am cleaning them up. Why don't the other oxygen consuming individuals that live here do the same. What a novel idea? Oh Lord! The answer...let's clean up after ones self.... then the mommy person can cook and vacuum and walk the dog and polish the baseboards and iron daddy's shirts INSTEAD of spending well over an hour picking up stuff that doesnt belong to me!
I'm just sayin'
OK rant over - I'm going upstairs now to scrub peanut butter off the kitchen island and put away the honey and bread (which is surely stale by now)
Friday, September 10, 2010
Serbian Mafioso and Scott's car repair debaucle
When you find a good mechanic - stick with them.
These are words to live by.
This summer has been one of the hottest on record in Charlottesville. I mean, seriously, how am I supposed to ride a horse or watch Riley ride her horse in that kinda heat? And Denton, God love her, how is she supposed to play golf in that heat? Am I required by law- to be outside- in the sun- on a golf course- to watch her in it? I don't know the answer to that question.
Where am I going with all this in a post about Scott's car? Scott drives a 1998 Audi A6 Quattro. He LOVES this car. (I love it because it is paid off) I also complain constantly about the repair bills for this car. Audi is not cheap to fix EVER. A light bulb is like $700 - OK, maybe not $700 but close.
So in the midst of the heatwave summer fun, his AC compressor goes out. No AC. It is like 95 at 8am and 98 degrees at 9 pm. HOT-AFRICA HOT! He has to drive to / from work in a button down shirt (long sleeve) and long pants. He needs to be presentable at work - not look like he took a shower in his clothes on the way to work.
So he calls Audi- they give him a quote. He also drops car off at our mechanic - who is awesome BTW- they give him a quote. Please note the price is over $1200. He then pokes around and someone (who shall not be named) gives him the name of these Serbian dudes that repair import cars. They are cheap!
Let me begin this by saying they are 2 brothers and their names rhyme. They work 7 days a week, holidays and are open til 8pm or later at night. They are from some eastern European country with heavy accents. I will not name the business because I fear for the life of my family. The bay of their garage has a 1984 Chevy caprice, or some such vehicle, with flames down both sides blocking the entrance - it is the only way in / out of the workbay- it's like the door ... I am "sceeered".
Scott's car was dropped off back in mid July. They replaced the AC compressor after 2 weeks we have the car back. It is making a really horrendous sound when the AC is on now, turn off the AC - no noise. We take the car back. They begin replacing alternators, ignition switches, ect.... no dice. They try another AC compressor, the car sounds like it is revving up to race the salt flats in Utah for the land speed record.
During all this, I have been driving Scott to work and home from work. It is wrecking my life. And the lives of my children. Riley doesn't have time to get her horse ridden, Denton doesn't have time to get in 9 holes of golf.
Scott calls "the brothers" every few days for an update. No, it's not ready or they'd become "disconnected" and then no one would answer the phone. At this point, I tell Scott he needs to get the car and take it to our mechanic and be done with it. Although, I warn him, he needs to grovel and beg forgiveness from them (they had ordered the parts to fix his car when he turned on them and went rogue with the Serbians - not cool)
Last week they promised the car on Friday, then Tuesday, then Thursday finally, today (Friday) we picked up the car this morning. Scott went in while Oliver and I waited in the truck. He was in there so long I thought he'd been shanked or something. But he got it back! And now has an appointment with "our mechanic" whom he will never stray from again... if he does he will need to purchase a liquor scooter to ride to / from work. Because Karen's Shuttle Service officially went out of business today - Sept 10, 2010
Starship Update: Karen's Log Sept 10 2010
It's been over a week since our Maddie dog went to doggie heaven. She went peacefully last Tuesday 8/31/10. I felt she was comfortable until the very very end. I did end up (with Riley's help) taking her to our vet to "help her pass" but as soon as we got her on the table she literally "died" = just like that. Riley proceeded to fall apart and sob, which caused me to sob. I haven't decided whether it is good or bad to fall apart like that in front of your children but I didn't have a choice. Gosh I loved that dog. Best dog EVER!
And since I seem to attract nothing but chaos in my life... we added to our little furry family the very next day. Millie (awful dog - which I promise to stop calling her that. I'll tell you why in a minute) trotted up to the deck a nano second before my butt hit the Adirondack chair with a Maker's Mark and water. She proudly displayed a very alive baby squirrel - holy cats! I took the critter- placed him in the tree house - just beneath his nest and squalling mother - and waited. No mommy squirrel came down after a few hours. So we took him inside - after Scott listed all the horrendous diseases he said we'd get from him - and placed him in a box. He looked to be about 5 weeks old and his eyes were still closed.
Let me tell you, this lifted everyone's spirits (except maybe Scott's, he was fearful of Typhoid at this point). So a week later and after a trip to SC for Labor Day Roscoe the squirrel is alive and well and his eyes are open! And he is now contained in a cat carrier. That I pray he does not find a way out of because that would NOT be a good thing. I now understand how they stick to trees upside down and race along power lines. They can stick to your clothing and yes, your bare skin, in the very same fashion.
Roscoe is pretty cute, makes weird squirrely noises and loves his fake mommy squirrel milk replacer. Best of all he has eased the pain and sadness a bit of Maddie passing. God knew just what we needed and saw an opportunity for us to help this little guy. Put our grief to work in a positive way I suppose. We'll keep caring for him until we can't handle him or until he is able to be released in a few weeks - whichever comes first.
As for the kids, Denton loves high school. I'm kinda surprised that the transition was so smooth. No drama at all. I think we made more out of it possibly? She has practiced with the golf team and has played a few times in the past few weeks too. This week we'll start having her play more often.
Riley loves middle school as well. She gets to walk to and from and thinks it's the greatest. She does have more homework but seems to be getting into a routine. The not so great thing is that she doesn't have much time to ride after school. Although, much of that is due to Scott's car being in the shop for many many weeks!!! I was his shuttle service and picking him up at 5:30 cut out any chance to ride since Riley gets out of school at 4pm. So now that the car is back that can change. Plus we are FINALLY having cooler weather!!! WooHoo! I've had enough with all the heat index of over 100 stuff.
As for me, I am going to try to reinstate my Respiratory license - I have an intensive review in October then I'll submit for a renewal. I haven't worked in respiratory in 17 years, whew! That, my friends, is a long time.
I promised I'd get to Millie - who used to be known as awful dog. Now that she is alone and guarding our kingdom we have noticed a change in her, I wonder if she knows Maddie died? Or does she think we gave her away? Or worse, that we are letting Maddie live inside and making her live outside and in the crate in the basement at night? Either way there seems to be a calmness about her now. Well, not all the way but not that crazy insane-o thing she was doing just a week ago.
To make things worse she has tested positive for heartworms. We are pretty sure she was positive, but it wasn't showing up yet on the test, before we got her. Anyway, she has been on HW preventative since last year in October and she will start her 1st treatment next month on the 5th. Followed by another treatment a few weeks later. After that, all should be fine.
She is in the very early stages and doesn't show any outward signs of HW disease. So right now she is on Prednisone (anti inflammatory), Doxycycline (antibiotic), Fish Oil (for heart health) and Prevacid for tummy upset from all the previously listed items. So far she looks great. And while in SC last weekend she ate an entire bag of cat food at my parents house and didn't even vomit - you gotta love a Lab's "tummy of steel". This goes with the baby bunnies and frogs and cicadas ect... that we see her eating in the back yard - yummmmm!
As I said, we traveled to Camden last weekend for Labor Day. It was the opening season for Dove's hunting. For the ride down we enjoyed listening to Millie licking and chewing on what I thought was a plastic water bottle. It wasn't - it was Scott's Lands End boots (oops) and now he has only 1/2 a "tongue" on one boot. We also had to feed Roscoe the squirrel a few times. Mobile squirrel feeding is not for the faint of heart.
McLean's birthday was celebrated on Saturday after we shot my dad's field. We had a party in the field at my dad's little hunting pole barn/lean to thingy. My 97 yr old grandmother even made it out.
Our travel to SC was fun for all. Got to hunt, saw family, friends, lots of good food (fish fry, quail legs, fish stew, slaw from CiCi's and birthday cake) I got to spend a lot of time with my mom on Sunday as well, which was really nice.
The trip back was smooth except that the squirrel's eyes were now open and he could see all the outside squirrely fun world he'd been missing. Can I just say how grateful I am that I put that little bugger in the cat carrier for the trip. When we left he still was blind and stayed put. But once those eyes opened..... feeding him in the car on the way back was - challenging-
I also mentioned that Millie consumed an entire 20lb bag of cat food on Sunday. I wondered why she wasn't real hungry Sunday evening (she did eat her chow though, just slowly). Plus she looked like a helium balloon was trapped in her belly. I am just thankful I didn't hear barfing noises or -worse- explosive poop noises from the back of my truck Monday. I'm pretty sure Scott would have pulled over, given me the keys and walked back to Charlottesville, all the while plotting ways to kill me - then moved out.
*Just kidding honey, I know you try hard to understand - even though you don't :-)
*So far - I can't complain too much and shouldn't be complaining at all - I'm blessed.
And since I seem to attract nothing but chaos in my life... we added to our little furry family the very next day. Millie (awful dog - which I promise to stop calling her that. I'll tell you why in a minute) trotted up to the deck a nano second before my butt hit the Adirondack chair with a Maker's Mark and water. She proudly displayed a very alive baby squirrel - holy cats! I took the critter- placed him in the tree house - just beneath his nest and squalling mother - and waited. No mommy squirrel came down after a few hours. So we took him inside - after Scott listed all the horrendous diseases he said we'd get from him - and placed him in a box. He looked to be about 5 weeks old and his eyes were still closed.
Let me tell you, this lifted everyone's spirits (except maybe Scott's, he was fearful of Typhoid at this point). So a week later and after a trip to SC for Labor Day Roscoe the squirrel is alive and well and his eyes are open! And he is now contained in a cat carrier. That I pray he does not find a way out of because that would NOT be a good thing. I now understand how they stick to trees upside down and race along power lines. They can stick to your clothing and yes, your bare skin, in the very same fashion.
Roscoe is pretty cute, makes weird squirrely noises and loves his fake mommy squirrel milk replacer. Best of all he has eased the pain and sadness a bit of Maddie passing. God knew just what we needed and saw an opportunity for us to help this little guy. Put our grief to work in a positive way I suppose. We'll keep caring for him until we can't handle him or until he is able to be released in a few weeks - whichever comes first.
As for the kids, Denton loves high school. I'm kinda surprised that the transition was so smooth. No drama at all. I think we made more out of it possibly? She has practiced with the golf team and has played a few times in the past few weeks too. This week we'll start having her play more often.
Riley loves middle school as well. She gets to walk to and from and thinks it's the greatest. She does have more homework but seems to be getting into a routine. The not so great thing is that she doesn't have much time to ride after school. Although, much of that is due to Scott's car being in the shop for many many weeks!!! I was his shuttle service and picking him up at 5:30 cut out any chance to ride since Riley gets out of school at 4pm. So now that the car is back that can change. Plus we are FINALLY having cooler weather!!! WooHoo! I've had enough with all the heat index of over 100 stuff.
As for me, I am going to try to reinstate my Respiratory license - I have an intensive review in October then I'll submit for a renewal. I haven't worked in respiratory in 17 years, whew! That, my friends, is a long time.
I promised I'd get to Millie - who used to be known as awful dog. Now that she is alone and guarding our kingdom we have noticed a change in her, I wonder if she knows Maddie died? Or does she think we gave her away? Or worse, that we are letting Maddie live inside and making her live outside and in the crate in the basement at night? Either way there seems to be a calmness about her now. Well, not all the way but not that crazy insane-o thing she was doing just a week ago.
To make things worse she has tested positive for heartworms. We are pretty sure she was positive, but it wasn't showing up yet on the test, before we got her. Anyway, she has been on HW preventative since last year in October and she will start her 1st treatment next month on the 5th. Followed by another treatment a few weeks later. After that, all should be fine.
She is in the very early stages and doesn't show any outward signs of HW disease. So right now she is on Prednisone (anti inflammatory), Doxycycline (antibiotic), Fish Oil (for heart health) and Prevacid for tummy upset from all the previously listed items. So far she looks great. And while in SC last weekend she ate an entire bag of cat food at my parents house and didn't even vomit - you gotta love a Lab's "tummy of steel". This goes with the baby bunnies and frogs and cicadas ect... that we see her eating in the back yard - yummmmm!
As I said, we traveled to Camden last weekend for Labor Day. It was the opening season for Dove's hunting. For the ride down we enjoyed listening to Millie licking and chewing on what I thought was a plastic water bottle. It wasn't - it was Scott's Lands End boots (oops) and now he has only 1/2 a "tongue" on one boot. We also had to feed Roscoe the squirrel a few times. Mobile squirrel feeding is not for the faint of heart.
McLean's birthday was celebrated on Saturday after we shot my dad's field. We had a party in the field at my dad's little hunting pole barn/lean to thingy. My 97 yr old grandmother even made it out.
Our travel to SC was fun for all. Got to hunt, saw family, friends, lots of good food (fish fry, quail legs, fish stew, slaw from CiCi's and birthday cake) I got to spend a lot of time with my mom on Sunday as well, which was really nice.
The trip back was smooth except that the squirrel's eyes were now open and he could see all the outside squirrely fun world he'd been missing. Can I just say how grateful I am that I put that little bugger in the cat carrier for the trip. When we left he still was blind and stayed put. But once those eyes opened..... feeding him in the car on the way back was - challenging-
I also mentioned that Millie consumed an entire 20lb bag of cat food on Sunday. I wondered why she wasn't real hungry Sunday evening (she did eat her chow though, just slowly). Plus she looked like a helium balloon was trapped in her belly. I am just thankful I didn't hear barfing noises or -worse- explosive poop noises from the back of my truck Monday. I'm pretty sure Scott would have pulled over, given me the keys and walked back to Charlottesville, all the while plotting ways to kill me - then moved out.
*Just kidding honey, I know you try hard to understand - even though you don't :-)
*So far - I can't complain too much and shouldn't be complaining at all - I'm blessed.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
You're Not The Boss of Me Now.......
Never ask what else can go wrong.....because LOTS can go wrong...in a very short period of time.
This week has been crazy for me. We still had work going on in 3 rooms of the house due to the water leak, thankfully we have the best contractor EVER! Then I had to do even more school supply shopping- yes- after the $100 I'd already spent. More highlighters- more erasers -more specific pencils- more paper -more jump drives....Geesh! More more more .... one teacher requested a bag of candy???? I refuse to by candy- won't do it, can't make me!
Add to this, Riley's flip flops (addidas not cheapos) broke - you can't "fix" flip flops, my cell phone broke- the keypad is failing- Scott's car is still not fixed - and the worst thing our 10 yr old yellow lab Maddie is pooping out on us.
A little background on Maddie. Despite using flea and tick preventive, Maddie got Lyme's Diseases 3 years ago. She went into cardiac failure, then into kidney failure. We (our Vet) tried for 3 weeks, everything we could to get her well, what she needed to live was a kidney transplant.
My vet finally said "Take her home and let her die with your family in peace and where she is comfortable and loved". So we brought her home. She was skin and bones 44 pounds , down from 80. She couldn't stand, eat, ect... so we put her on the sofa in the basement and watched her lie there for days. All the while I gave her water with a syringe, and a paste with calories in it. Amazingly, the day before we decided to let the vet help her along to doggie heaven - she perked up. And improved S L O W L Y over the next few months.
That was 3 years ago, and up until now, she has been like a 3 yr old dog! Her kidney values say she should be dead, our vet has her at #1 on his list of dogs that should be dead that aren't. The past few days she has been weak, vomiting her dog food, listless, losing weight, just all around looks like crud. The classic signs that the kidneys are getting worse.
Here she is as a puppy, then when she was sick, skeletal actually, next she is on my loveseat - which she should not be, and then in the snow this winter.
Riley went to bed the night before school started crying... which made me cry. Denton, who loves Maddie too, asked about her as soon as she got up that morning and as soon as she got home from school. I'm torn on whether to treat her symptoms more aggressively by taking her to the vet or managing her at home. There's really nothing the vet can do but prolong her with fluids. And she is still drinking water and eating a little shaved turkey. I think she's been a miracle so far and I'll let her gracefully live for as long as she can, by doing it herself. When she's ready to let go, I'll let her, with dignity. And then I will fall apart - love love love that dog
Next I will whine about being Scott's personal shuttle to work and home for the past 2 weeks. His car's AC went out weeks ago and to save a little money he took it to a place run by Serbian brothers (I will not tell you the name because I fear they will come after my family if I complain about them too much) they were recommended by one of Scott's residents whom I need to have a conversation with I believe...
The place is shady to say the least and after "fixing" the AC now the steering pump and a bunch of other junk is now wrong??? I dare ask "will the car ever be right again?" It's an old Audi A6 that Scott LOVES! But repairing the well loved car is EXPENSIVE! I complain alot about this car. At this point I just want Scott to get the car home so we can take it someplace else - but every time we call, the car is "in pieces" holy car parts Batman, this is not looking good....
So, I take him to work and I pick him up.... did I mention my truck gets like 14 mpg on a good day and not in traffic? Also, the UVa students think they are all bulletproof and I magically will not hit them even though they dart into the street like squirrels....
The cell phone. I have had this phone for 1.5 yrs - it's a palm centro and I really like it. But it doesn't like my lifestyle. I shove it in my pocket when I ride, I shove it in my pocket when I run, it bounces around in the golf cart as well. There are no real protective cases for it that are conducive to being outside and banging into things. Plus my kids text on it all the flipping time. I use it for web browsing, email, ect... I am a master at hip dialing people! If you get a call from me, well, listen up, you may hear me signing (in which case I'd hang up it's not worth the pain) or talking to myself or the horse or Oliver (you may hear swearing or it could be entertaining).
So today I get my new phone- a Blackberry - I'm sceered of the learning curve but I'm willing to try it out. Denton is BESIDE herself for some reason? I just learned all the dang buttons on the palm!
MY last words here are that maybe all this happened in order for me not to freak out so bad about my kids going back to school. I had such a wonderful Summer with them this year. Denton playing golf and Riley with the horse. Things were busy but they flowed nicely.
Denton has become a young woman, who is a huge hormonal pain in the butt at times , but also sweet and caring. And I like where we are as mom and daughter right now. So I'll relish it and hope it lasts or gets even better. I just can not believe my little Peapie is in 9th grade. I have 4 years left with her here.
Riley looks to little to go to 6th grade. My friend Pascale saw her daughter & Riley walking this morning to school and said they look so grown up yet still so little. Riley came home yesterday beaming and saying how much she loved middle school. She's my rule follower and she sat down and did everything that each teacher asked. She organized her whole school schedule last night.
This being said, it was so weird not having them home til 4:30 pm. I'm use to Riley being home around 2:30 or so. But middle and high school starts late in our county and gets out late as well.
By 2 pm I was bored and folding laundry did not seem appealing... I think I need to get a life ....
At least today I will get to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to answer in coming calls on my new cell phone - right?
This week has been crazy for me. We still had work going on in 3 rooms of the house due to the water leak, thankfully we have the best contractor EVER! Then I had to do even more school supply shopping- yes- after the $100 I'd already spent. More highlighters- more erasers -more specific pencils- more paper -more jump drives....Geesh! More more more .... one teacher requested a bag of candy???? I refuse to by candy- won't do it, can't make me!
Add to this, Riley's flip flops (addidas not cheapos) broke - you can't "fix" flip flops, my cell phone broke- the keypad is failing- Scott's car is still not fixed - and the worst thing our 10 yr old yellow lab Maddie is pooping out on us.
A little background on Maddie. Despite using flea and tick preventive, Maddie got Lyme's Diseases 3 years ago. She went into cardiac failure, then into kidney failure. We (our Vet) tried for 3 weeks, everything we could to get her well, what she needed to live was a kidney transplant.
My vet finally said "Take her home and let her die with your family in peace and where she is comfortable and loved". So we brought her home. She was skin and bones 44 pounds , down from 80. She couldn't stand, eat, ect... so we put her on the sofa in the basement and watched her lie there for days. All the while I gave her water with a syringe, and a paste with calories in it. Amazingly, the day before we decided to let the vet help her along to doggie heaven - she perked up. And improved S L O W L Y over the next few months.
That was 3 years ago, and up until now, she has been like a 3 yr old dog! Her kidney values say she should be dead, our vet has her at #1 on his list of dogs that should be dead that aren't. The past few days she has been weak, vomiting her dog food, listless, losing weight, just all around looks like crud. The classic signs that the kidneys are getting worse.
Here she is as a puppy, then when she was sick, skeletal actually, next she is on my loveseat - which she should not be, and then in the snow this winter.
Riley went to bed the night before school started crying... which made me cry. Denton, who loves Maddie too, asked about her as soon as she got up that morning and as soon as she got home from school. I'm torn on whether to treat her symptoms more aggressively by taking her to the vet or managing her at home. There's really nothing the vet can do but prolong her with fluids. And she is still drinking water and eating a little shaved turkey. I think she's been a miracle so far and I'll let her gracefully live for as long as she can, by doing it herself. When she's ready to let go, I'll let her, with dignity. And then I will fall apart - love love love that dog
Next I will whine about being Scott's personal shuttle to work and home for the past 2 weeks. His car's AC went out weeks ago and to save a little money he took it to a place run by Serbian brothers (I will not tell you the name because I fear they will come after my family if I complain about them too much) they were recommended by one of Scott's residents whom I need to have a conversation with I believe...
The place is shady to say the least and after "fixing" the AC now the steering pump and a bunch of other junk is now wrong??? I dare ask "will the car ever be right again?" It's an old Audi A6 that Scott LOVES! But repairing the well loved car is EXPENSIVE! I complain alot about this car. At this point I just want Scott to get the car home so we can take it someplace else - but every time we call, the car is "in pieces" holy car parts Batman, this is not looking good....
So, I take him to work and I pick him up.... did I mention my truck gets like 14 mpg on a good day and not in traffic? Also, the UVa students think they are all bulletproof and I magically will not hit them even though they dart into the street like squirrels....
The cell phone. I have had this phone for 1.5 yrs - it's a palm centro and I really like it. But it doesn't like my lifestyle. I shove it in my pocket when I ride, I shove it in my pocket when I run, it bounces around in the golf cart as well. There are no real protective cases for it that are conducive to being outside and banging into things. Plus my kids text on it all the flipping time. I use it for web browsing, email, ect... I am a master at hip dialing people! If you get a call from me, well, listen up, you may hear me signing (in which case I'd hang up it's not worth the pain) or talking to myself or the horse or Oliver (you may hear swearing or it could be entertaining).
So today I get my new phone- a Blackberry - I'm sceered of the learning curve but I'm willing to try it out. Denton is BESIDE herself for some reason? I just learned all the dang buttons on the palm!
MY last words here are that maybe all this happened in order for me not to freak out so bad about my kids going back to school. I had such a wonderful Summer with them this year. Denton playing golf and Riley with the horse. Things were busy but they flowed nicely.
Denton has become a young woman, who is a huge hormonal pain in the butt at times , but also sweet and caring. And I like where we are as mom and daughter right now. So I'll relish it and hope it lasts or gets even better. I just can not believe my little Peapie is in 9th grade. I have 4 years left with her here.
Riley looks to little to go to 6th grade. My friend Pascale saw her daughter & Riley walking this morning to school and said they look so grown up yet still so little. Riley came home yesterday beaming and saying how much she loved middle school. She's my rule follower and she sat down and did everything that each teacher asked. She organized her whole school schedule last night.
This being said, it was so weird not having them home til 4:30 pm. I'm use to Riley being home around 2:30 or so. But middle and high school starts late in our county and gets out late as well.
By 2 pm I was bored and folding laundry did not seem appealing... I think I need to get a life ....
At least today I will get to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out how to answer in coming calls on my new cell phone - right?
Friday, August 20, 2010
WHAT - Summer is over- where the heck have I been?
Holy cats! Where did the Summer go? I think I put 5000 miles on my truck since June. Denton to and from golf, and different golf courses, Riley to the barn (on days cool enough and even on not cool enough days). We spent time with family, friends, rode horses, went camping, boating, floating and relaxed on occasion.
I find myself writing this today (and quickly, I have to pick Denton up from - the golf course again) because I can't believe my girls are growing up so dang fast. Seriously, time flies doesn't even begin to cover how my life is blowing by. I want it to stop and NOW! I'm sitting here all teary thinking about my first born baby going to high school. Or maybe I'm thinking of how awful I was in high school? Either way it's a gut turning sensation that makes me take a large gulp of bourbon, or at least I would, but I can't because I have to drive to get Denton. Maybe after?
And then Riley starts Middle School. My little monkey in 6th grade? No freakin way! I should homeschool that kid... that way she'd just be here with me all day. We could ride horses, do a little Algebra, some reading... no worries.
I really need to face this, I think next Wednesday I'll likely sit and cry after they leave. I do it every year. Maybe this year I'll go for a nice long run in my new monkey shoes or the Vibram FiveFinger shoes as they are properly named. Or maybe I'll get a friend to horseback ride with me? I will have access to the horse now that Riley can only go AFTER school. There, see, a ray of light in my dreary outlook.
When we did Denton's orientation last night I was a little freaked out (I don't do well in places where there are LOTS of people just milling around and running into you) This high school is HUGE! Over 1800 kids. We found and met her classrooms and teachers - all nice and we came home to celebrate Scott's 45th year of being on earth .... and he still asks where his socks are, where the peanut butter might be and do we have any towels that are clean. hehe! Riley Denton & I made an ice cream cake this year. It wasnt too "perty" but it sure was yummy!
In the midst of all this running around, golf, shopping for clothes for school, school supplies, birthday stuff - we had a water leak in the basement which came from the kitchen. It was caused by the renovation we had 3 yrs ago- the granite bar was installed and somehow one little piece of wood that supports the end , had a screw put through it right in the middle of a water pipe...
The good news is our contractor came back to fix it (he subcontracted the granite so it wasn't him that did this) and he's been back and forth patching up many holes in my drywall. More on this whole freaking ordeal later people.
Well, I'm off to pick up Denton and Scott from the golf course - Scott's stupid car is STILL not right - I'd say more on this later too but the words I'd choose may permanently scar those with tender and not so tender ears...
I find myself writing this today (and quickly, I have to pick Denton up from - the golf course again) because I can't believe my girls are growing up so dang fast. Seriously, time flies doesn't even begin to cover how my life is blowing by. I want it to stop and NOW! I'm sitting here all teary thinking about my first born baby going to high school. Or maybe I'm thinking of how awful I was in high school? Either way it's a gut turning sensation that makes me take a large gulp of bourbon, or at least I would, but I can't because I have to drive to get Denton. Maybe after?
And then Riley starts Middle School. My little monkey in 6th grade? No freakin way! I should homeschool that kid... that way she'd just be here with me all day. We could ride horses, do a little Algebra, some reading... no worries.
I really need to face this, I think next Wednesday I'll likely sit and cry after they leave. I do it every year. Maybe this year I'll go for a nice long run in my new monkey shoes or the Vibram FiveFinger shoes as they are properly named. Or maybe I'll get a friend to horseback ride with me? I will have access to the horse now that Riley can only go AFTER school. There, see, a ray of light in my dreary outlook.
When we did Denton's orientation last night I was a little freaked out (I don't do well in places where there are LOTS of people just milling around and running into you) This high school is HUGE! Over 1800 kids. We found and met her classrooms and teachers - all nice and we came home to celebrate Scott's 45th year of being on earth .... and he still asks where his socks are, where the peanut butter might be and do we have any towels that are clean. hehe! Riley Denton & I made an ice cream cake this year. It wasnt too "perty" but it sure was yummy!
In the midst of all this running around, golf, shopping for clothes for school, school supplies, birthday stuff - we had a water leak in the basement which came from the kitchen. It was caused by the renovation we had 3 yrs ago- the granite bar was installed and somehow one little piece of wood that supports the end , had a screw put through it right in the middle of a water pipe...
The good news is our contractor came back to fix it (he subcontracted the granite so it wasn't him that did this) and he's been back and forth patching up many holes in my drywall. More on this whole freaking ordeal later people.
Well, I'm off to pick up Denton and Scott from the golf course - Scott's stupid car is STILL not right - I'd say more on this later too but the words I'd choose may permanently scar those with tender and not so tender ears...
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Double Double ... Toil and Trouble....
Well, it has been many weeks since my last blog : I feel like a Catholic confessing my sins. Seriously, I have just been too busy and too sad to write.
Anyone that writes knows you have to be in a frame of mind to make it work, right? No? Well, maybe I'm just weird.
Here's my recap, we went to Clayton NY to spend the week on a 36 foot yacht (my inlaws boat) I get seasick pretty easy so this was not looking fun to me. Thankfully, I was a little queasy for 10 hrs or so and then POOF it was gone. Well, it was either gone or I stayed fairly well lit with Firefly Vodka and Corona light. Either way I did not puke. Bonus for all aboard because apparently those potties on board are for looks and peeing only - no vomit or "other stuff"...
The boat was a great adventure for us. I've never stayed on a boat like that - 1 whole week. I do not however like that potty deal on the boat. It's like an airplane or something...
we went over to my sister and brother in laws cottage, met my niece Chloe for the first time, hung around with friends we hadn't seen in a very long time and all the kids got along like they have known each other forever. My father in law is quite the boat captain. He got us in and out of Kingston Canada, several dockings in high winds and rough water. He also cruised us around for hours just enjoying being out on the water.
We had a truly wonderful time! My pics will be on FB soon, I'll provide a link when I get them loaded. I took over 600 pics and I need to "weed" them out. We did too much stuff to mention but the pics are pretty good at telling the story I think - soon- I swear!
We got home on a Sunday night and by Tuesday my world was wrecked. My best friend ever Lee's mother died. I probably spent as much time with her family over the years as I have with mine. I packed up and went to SC on Wednesday afternoon. After saying goodbye to Edna on Thursday (and toasting Edna all day in the pool house with the cool people) I drove to Hot Springs Va on Friday. Scott had a conference at The Homestead and I try hard not to miss that place. Plus, Riley and Denton would have been "on the loose" if I'd stayed in Camden. Not a good scene.
So now I am back to Cville. Trying to wash clothes and put everything back where it belongs. My punks start school on the 25th. Denton still is being driven from golf course A to golf course B every day for this and that.
I guess I'm thankful for the hot weather making it difficult to ride the horse.
Since being home I calculated how many miles I'd driven in a 14 day period. It was well over 2000.... add being tired and very sad (I cried all the way to SC and part of the way to VA - depending on the song on the radio) I just need a break. To make my week even better I had made an appt for the awful dog to be spayed. She is 18 months now and wild as a new spring hare. She jumped OVER the vets exam table- impressive.
So, at 7:30 am on Tuesday I put awful dog in the car and drive to vet office, unload dog and see that she started her fall heat - GOOD LORD! I drive back home with awful dog and promptly put her in her crate. The next 3 weeks shall be joyful monitoring this animal. In the crate, out of the crate to pee and eat than right back in. She can't even run with me! (she shall not be spreading her girly lust throughout the neighborhood) We have an appointment on Aug 31.
In between all this travel stuff Denton tried out for the high school golf team. She did not make it. Which is fine actually, she was asked to practice with them just not compete. Can you say free greens fees!!!! A freshman rarely makes that team but she wanted to try and just have the experience. I'm quite proud of her, I was more nervous than she was. There is only one other girl on the team BTW. All guys and one girl.... just so all you mommies out there know - golf is a SAFE sport. It is not, however, a cheap sport. It's more expensive than the horse stuff. I assure you. Bucket of balls for driving range $6, greens fees $29 and they should play 9 holes 4-5 days a week... plus clubs, tees, glove, balls, on and on.....and that's at the "cheap" place!
Riley has decided to baby sit these days. She wants to make fliers, ect... and take a baby sitting course. The basic one is $55 the advanced one is $155. I'm thinking we'll start with the cheapo! She had her first official job today and made $30 for 3 hours ... I may start babysitting... wait, maybe not. That would likely lead to jail time...
That being said I am ready freddy for school to START! Usually I'm not but it has been HOT as 3 hells this summer (I love that saying thanks Lee) and I'm tired of driving 2 people all over Charlottesville in different directions every flippin day. So bring on Aug 25th! Riley walks to middle school, Denton rides the bus!
I am now going to make dinner (early isn't it!!!) well, you see, I have this diabolical plan to meet my friend Mary Ann for booze and food and I can only do this if the punks are fed and the money maker is not on KP duty :-) I am SO smart, I know.
Karen
Anyone that writes knows you have to be in a frame of mind to make it work, right? No? Well, maybe I'm just weird.
Here's my recap, we went to Clayton NY to spend the week on a 36 foot yacht (my inlaws boat) I get seasick pretty easy so this was not looking fun to me. Thankfully, I was a little queasy for 10 hrs or so and then POOF it was gone. Well, it was either gone or I stayed fairly well lit with Firefly Vodka and Corona light. Either way I did not puke. Bonus for all aboard because apparently those potties on board are for looks and peeing only - no vomit or "other stuff"...
The boat was a great adventure for us. I've never stayed on a boat like that - 1 whole week. I do not however like that potty deal on the boat. It's like an airplane or something...
we went over to my sister and brother in laws cottage, met my niece Chloe for the first time, hung around with friends we hadn't seen in a very long time and all the kids got along like they have known each other forever. My father in law is quite the boat captain. He got us in and out of Kingston Canada, several dockings in high winds and rough water. He also cruised us around for hours just enjoying being out on the water.
We had a truly wonderful time! My pics will be on FB soon, I'll provide a link when I get them loaded. I took over 600 pics and I need to "weed" them out. We did too much stuff to mention but the pics are pretty good at telling the story I think - soon- I swear!
We got home on a Sunday night and by Tuesday my world was wrecked. My best friend ever Lee's mother died. I probably spent as much time with her family over the years as I have with mine. I packed up and went to SC on Wednesday afternoon. After saying goodbye to Edna on Thursday (and toasting Edna all day in the pool house with the cool people) I drove to Hot Springs Va on Friday. Scott had a conference at The Homestead and I try hard not to miss that place. Plus, Riley and Denton would have been "on the loose" if I'd stayed in Camden. Not a good scene.
So now I am back to Cville. Trying to wash clothes and put everything back where it belongs. My punks start school on the 25th. Denton still is being driven from golf course A to golf course B every day for this and that.
I guess I'm thankful for the hot weather making it difficult to ride the horse.
Since being home I calculated how many miles I'd driven in a 14 day period. It was well over 2000.... add being tired and very sad (I cried all the way to SC and part of the way to VA - depending on the song on the radio) I just need a break. To make my week even better I had made an appt for the awful dog to be spayed. She is 18 months now and wild as a new spring hare. She jumped OVER the vets exam table- impressive.
So, at 7:30 am on Tuesday I put awful dog in the car and drive to vet office, unload dog and see that she started her fall heat - GOOD LORD! I drive back home with awful dog and promptly put her in her crate. The next 3 weeks shall be joyful monitoring this animal. In the crate, out of the crate to pee and eat than right back in. She can't even run with me! (she shall not be spreading her girly lust throughout the neighborhood) We have an appointment on Aug 31.
In between all this travel stuff Denton tried out for the high school golf team. She did not make it. Which is fine actually, she was asked to practice with them just not compete. Can you say free greens fees!!!! A freshman rarely makes that team but she wanted to try and just have the experience. I'm quite proud of her, I was more nervous than she was. There is only one other girl on the team BTW. All guys and one girl.... just so all you mommies out there know - golf is a SAFE sport. It is not, however, a cheap sport. It's more expensive than the horse stuff. I assure you. Bucket of balls for driving range $6, greens fees $29 and they should play 9 holes 4-5 days a week... plus clubs, tees, glove, balls, on and on.....and that's at the "cheap" place!
Riley has decided to baby sit these days. She wants to make fliers, ect... and take a baby sitting course. The basic one is $55 the advanced one is $155. I'm thinking we'll start with the cheapo! She had her first official job today and made $30 for 3 hours ... I may start babysitting... wait, maybe not. That would likely lead to jail time...
That being said I am ready freddy for school to START! Usually I'm not but it has been HOT as 3 hells this summer (I love that saying thanks Lee) and I'm tired of driving 2 people all over Charlottesville in different directions every flippin day. So bring on Aug 25th! Riley walks to middle school, Denton rides the bus!
I am now going to make dinner (early isn't it!!!) well, you see, I have this diabolical plan to meet my friend Mary Ann for booze and food and I can only do this if the punks are fed and the money maker is not on KP duty :-) I am SO smart, I know.
Karen
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Is it really Friday!???
How fast can a week fly by? Too fast. Especially when you have a bazillion things to do.
So far this week I have driven to 2 separate golf courses way too many times to count. I have driven Riley to ride her horse a few times (yes even in this heat) I had my friend Anne over on Wednesday for the day. We pooled it - with 7 kids between us the pool seemed like a good idea (she has 5, I have 2 - although, I told her if she had another one, I'd take it off her hands, she has cute babies!) I wish she lived closer to me ... Anne was my best friend when I lived in Richmond and has been a bestie ever since. I love you Anne and your family.
She has great kids too, well behaved but not boring. I do, however, think William will need counseling for his long hair fetish... just sayin' :-P
Yesterday I drove Denton to her golf program at 10 picked her up at 12 noon. Came home had 2 people look at our house, drove Denton to Farmington for her golf lesson. I got there at 1:50 pm and we left to come home at 5:25 pm.... I did get to sneak into Barnes and Noble for 1 hour to cool off.
Today I ran, now I'm goofing off and shouldn't be. I have to take my horse from Jenny's farm back to Karen's farm then Riley has a pizza party for making a perfect score on her (SOL'S) Standards of Learning test in math for 5th grade - don't know where she got math skills...I can't even use a calculator beyond + - X /
I then have to pack for vacation to Clayton NY and Kingston Ontario Canada. We are staying on my in laws boat - it's a big boat - although I can't remember how many feet 35 or something like that. It has A/C, a coffee pot, a potty, TV, a queen bed and bunks... I will live through this. It's not camping I keep telling myself. My brother in law and sister in law are going to be there as well (not on the boat with us) my in laws are staying in a cottage in town while we have the boat, and we get to meet our niece Chloe for the first time in person.
The next bonus is cooler temps and lower humidity... now THAT is worth a 10 hour car ride... I think. Did I mention that I have not packed ONE SINGLE THING FOR THIS TRIP? Probably not because I am in denial. I also have to go to a farewell party from 6-8 pm tonight for a colleague of Scott's. It's at Morven (formally John Kluge's Estate) and it's open bar I believe... I just want to see the house personally.
I have yet to tell Oliver that I am leaving him for the week, he will not be happy y'all. As soon as I pull out my suitcase he will climb in and park himself burrowing under my shirts- seriously, he will lay there until I toss him out... and then he'll whine. And my heart will break. :-(
Enough, gloom. I have 4 books to read on my vaca, and there is some crazy talk about riding bikes around Clayton... I do not know how to ride a bike. THERE I said it! I never really learned. I had a horse for goodness sake - let's see----- horse----bike---- uh HORSE! I lived on a sandy dirt road - not good for bikes, great for horses. Scott is determined that I WILL ride the bike - I actually HAVE a nice bike. Scott bought it for my birthday many years ago. I wasn't real excited about it then and so I now have tried to give it to Denton...Scott says NO... ugh.
Surely, they'll have those adult tricycle's to rent - yes? With a basket for my books and stuff.
Wish me luck, I might not be able to blog much (or at all) - I know everyone is sad. :-) My goal is to come home tanner, cooler, more learnted on beach trash novels and ready to tackle back to school shopping - school starts in 31 days! Not that I'm counting or anything.... Oh and Lee if you read this take your medicine or I will hurt you!
So far this week I have driven to 2 separate golf courses way too many times to count. I have driven Riley to ride her horse a few times (yes even in this heat) I had my friend Anne over on Wednesday for the day. We pooled it - with 7 kids between us the pool seemed like a good idea (she has 5, I have 2 - although, I told her if she had another one, I'd take it off her hands, she has cute babies!) I wish she lived closer to me ... Anne was my best friend when I lived in Richmond and has been a bestie ever since. I love you Anne and your family.
She has great kids too, well behaved but not boring. I do, however, think William will need counseling for his long hair fetish... just sayin' :-P
Yesterday I drove Denton to her golf program at 10 picked her up at 12 noon. Came home had 2 people look at our house, drove Denton to Farmington for her golf lesson. I got there at 1:50 pm and we left to come home at 5:25 pm.... I did get to sneak into Barnes and Noble for 1 hour to cool off.
Today I ran, now I'm goofing off and shouldn't be. I have to take my horse from Jenny's farm back to Karen's farm then Riley has a pizza party for making a perfect score on her (SOL'S) Standards of Learning test in math for 5th grade - don't know where she got math skills...I can't even use a calculator beyond + - X /
I then have to pack for vacation to Clayton NY and Kingston Ontario Canada. We are staying on my in laws boat - it's a big boat - although I can't remember how many feet 35 or something like that. It has A/C, a coffee pot, a potty, TV, a queen bed and bunks... I will live through this. It's not camping I keep telling myself. My brother in law and sister in law are going to be there as well (not on the boat with us) my in laws are staying in a cottage in town while we have the boat, and we get to meet our niece Chloe for the first time in person.
The next bonus is cooler temps and lower humidity... now THAT is worth a 10 hour car ride... I think. Did I mention that I have not packed ONE SINGLE THING FOR THIS TRIP? Probably not because I am in denial. I also have to go to a farewell party from 6-8 pm tonight for a colleague of Scott's. It's at Morven (formally John Kluge's Estate) and it's open bar I believe... I just want to see the house personally.
I have yet to tell Oliver that I am leaving him for the week, he will not be happy y'all. As soon as I pull out my suitcase he will climb in and park himself burrowing under my shirts- seriously, he will lay there until I toss him out... and then he'll whine. And my heart will break. :-(
Enough, gloom. I have 4 books to read on my vaca, and there is some crazy talk about riding bikes around Clayton... I do not know how to ride a bike. THERE I said it! I never really learned. I had a horse for goodness sake - let's see----- horse----bike---- uh HORSE! I lived on a sandy dirt road - not good for bikes, great for horses. Scott is determined that I WILL ride the bike - I actually HAVE a nice bike. Scott bought it for my birthday many years ago. I wasn't real excited about it then and so I now have tried to give it to Denton...Scott says NO... ugh.
Surely, they'll have those adult tricycle's to rent - yes? With a basket for my books and stuff.
Wish me luck, I might not be able to blog much (or at all) - I know everyone is sad. :-) My goal is to come home tanner, cooler, more learnted on beach trash novels and ready to tackle back to school shopping - school starts in 31 days! Not that I'm counting or anything.... Oh and Lee if you read this take your medicine or I will hurt you!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Where is that d*mn maid?
Oh...... wait that would be me.
I hate cleaning my house. Hate it. I can always find something else that doesn't need to be done - like writing on my blog. Cleaning makes me mean, grouchy, unpleasant to be around.
Mainly, because when people "help" clean they do it "wrong".
For example. Do I REALLY need to tell people that when they vacuum, they need to move the stuff on the floor and vacuum under it? And that you need to pick up trash instead of having it get stuck in my vacuum. And socks are not items that are allowed to be sucked up either. Spiders, yes - socks, no!
I asked Riley to do chores while I dropped Denton at golf, picked up a copy of her vaccine record, went by the high school and then came home. I asked her to sweep the front porch. She did, sort of. If you don't stare you think nothing of it. If you are the owner of the porch and you look closely you can see LOTS OF DIRT & SPIDERS!
But does anyone look that close? Probably not and do they care?...probably not. So why do I care how she does the chore I assigned? I probably shouldn't.
I asked her to empty the garbage cans... she did, but there are a few pieces of paper around it. So, in order to get through the day ...I am not going to care. She unloaded the dishwasher and got water on the kitchen floor. It will dry or the dog will lick it up - right? So, I'm not going to care.
I left the really nasty stuff for me to do. Bathrooms, kitchen floor, spider web removal, basement room where the furriest dog alive sleeps at night. If you turned on a leaf blower in there it would look like a snow globe. My mother would die of a stroke if she saw that room. For real- she would.
So, I have two families coming Thursday to see this house. It's not officially for sale but we'd do it if the price was right - we'd have to rent something. Hmmmm, maybe this isn't such a good idea. Maybe we should just stay put? Moving takes work - lots of work, boxes, ect... and that makes me want to drink alcohol at lunch.
And no one wins if I do that.
Oh well, at least my buddy Anne will not have worry about her 5 kids getting typhoid in my house when she visits tomorrow ... that's a much better reason to clean up anyway!
I hate cleaning my house. Hate it. I can always find something else that doesn't need to be done - like writing on my blog. Cleaning makes me mean, grouchy, unpleasant to be around.
Mainly, because when people "help" clean they do it "wrong".
For example. Do I REALLY need to tell people that when they vacuum, they need to move the stuff on the floor and vacuum under it? And that you need to pick up trash instead of having it get stuck in my vacuum. And socks are not items that are allowed to be sucked up either. Spiders, yes - socks, no!
I asked Riley to do chores while I dropped Denton at golf, picked up a copy of her vaccine record, went by the high school and then came home. I asked her to sweep the front porch. She did, sort of. If you don't stare you think nothing of it. If you are the owner of the porch and you look closely you can see LOTS OF DIRT & SPIDERS!
But does anyone look that close? Probably not and do they care?...probably not. So why do I care how she does the chore I assigned? I probably shouldn't.
I asked her to empty the garbage cans... she did, but there are a few pieces of paper around it. So, in order to get through the day ...I am not going to care. She unloaded the dishwasher and got water on the kitchen floor. It will dry or the dog will lick it up - right? So, I'm not going to care.
I left the really nasty stuff for me to do. Bathrooms, kitchen floor, spider web removal, basement room where the furriest dog alive sleeps at night. If you turned on a leaf blower in there it would look like a snow globe. My mother would die of a stroke if she saw that room. For real- she would.
So, I have two families coming Thursday to see this house. It's not officially for sale but we'd do it if the price was right - we'd have to rent something. Hmmmm, maybe this isn't such a good idea. Maybe we should just stay put? Moving takes work - lots of work, boxes, ect... and that makes me want to drink alcohol at lunch.
And no one wins if I do that.
Oh well, at least my buddy Anne will not have worry about her 5 kids getting typhoid in my house when she visits tomorrow ... that's a much better reason to clean up anyway!
Friday, July 16, 2010
A little piece of my heart now baby...
So Denton has been 14 for 2 days. I feel ancient. I always look through her baby book, read her birth story (wonder at that point how I EVER managed to be pregnant again - Denton's birth was less than routine) I'll spare you the 52 hour ordeal.
I look back at pictures of how she grew. She has always been fiercely independent! She learned to crawl at 8.3 weeks then stood up and walked a week later. There was something very odd (and quite frankly - freakish- kids aren't SUPPOSED to walk that early) seeing a 9 month old kid walking around the house. She's always been funny and loves to make people laugh. She has her own idea of what is cool. She has always pulled off "a look" - something I never had the guts to do.
She has known her own mind from the beginning - I nursed her for 9 months and she decided one day - that was IT! I want that stuff you eat at the table lady... no more milk from you. I secretly think it bothered her to have to lay down to eat? She has never been a big snuggler, which as a mom is hard, I always wanted to hold her while she slept. She wanted to stretch out in her crib. At least until she was 13 months old and started jumping ship. I'd find her in the guest bed (in her room) sound asleep most mornings. Alas, she got her own bed at that point.
Her first day of Kindergarten she desperately wanted to ride the bus. I was like NO WAY! I'll take you to school honey, you don't have to ride that awful bus. So, I let her ride the bus. I also followed the bus every day for a week the 2 miles it went to drop her off. I took pictures the first day of her getting off the bus at school and she screamed "MAMA what are you DOING here"!!! Like I was a stalker or something. She would be so tired after school (full day Kindergarten) that most days the driver woke her up to get off at our stop.
My girl has always had plenty of friends. Never lacking in social obligations. She has also tried EVERY sport known to man. Even though she really isn't that competitive - she just liked the outfits and uniforms we found out thousands of dollars later. She is a great swimmer but you really need to be concerned about that other people racing against you - she wasn't. We called her the Barbie swimmer. Beautiful to watch but no drive to be first. And she had years to perfect the Barbie freestyle....
We have now come to a sport she picked grudgingly. Golf. Amazing that this child has such a natural ability for it. We would never have guessed. Riley was the first to take up golf and we kinda made Denton do it, too - easier to drive 2 people to one place - right! Now, I catch her watching golf on TV lately. A joy that I'm sure equals paint drying to most. I drop her off at the golf course to practice, drive her to lessons, she participates in 1st Tee and hopes to be a coach at some point. She also longs to be on the high school team. Either this year(if she makes it or next) she has set long term goals with her new love - golf.
In ninth grade all I could think about was not tripping over the curb at school or not making a fool of myself too often. I had no self confidence like my girl does. I also wasn't 5"10', blond, and thin. Maybe that would have helped? Who knows. I'm just so thankful and feel so blessed to have this child that even when she screws up - she's learned to own it. She's not perfect, never will be, but has learned to admit she is wrong and move on. Try not to do a repeat.
When I say she's gracious and has good manners I mean it but she can also be a stubborn, irritating teenager. Stomping around the house, saying nasty things under her breath, slamming doors, torturing her younger sister and the most useful tool she learned from her mother - the eyeball roll. She must have paid close attention to that lesson from mommy :-) OK I should not be proud of that but, it is an art you know.
So, for my beautiful, sweet, pushy daughter - I love you. I feel so close to you. I love when you talk to me about problems and joys. I love that you WANT to talk to me period :-) I love that you grumble in the mornings when I wake you up to run with me. I love that you still want to sit on my lap, watch TV, ride to the grocery store, talk privately when I kiss you good night. I love that you listen when I tell you WHY I wouldn't advise you to do something because I've been there - done it- and it didn't turn out well. I know you'll make mistakes, even the ones I've warned you about but I think you have plenty of sense and you've paid attention over the years.
You make good grades, you are very self reliant, independent, you can cook really well, clean, do laundry, mow grass, clean the yard, use a leaf blower, dig a hole, water a garden, set up a tent, fish, drive a truck, drive a boat, swing the heck out of a golf club and even though it isn't your favorite thing you'll horseback ride with me. It doesn't hurt that your the cutest thing ever!
I love you so much. And even though I yearn for your baby, toddler and little girl years (actually it makes me ache inside to the point of pain)- I am excited watching the person you are becoming. The young woman I see has a bright future. Nothing Ho-Hum for you ...but a life that is full of surprises, full of love, blessings and rewards for hard work.
Happy Birthday - Peapie
love, love, love - Mommy
I look back at pictures of how she grew. She has always been fiercely independent! She learned to crawl at 8.3 weeks then stood up and walked a week later. There was something very odd (and quite frankly - freakish- kids aren't SUPPOSED to walk that early) seeing a 9 month old kid walking around the house. She's always been funny and loves to make people laugh. She has her own idea of what is cool. She has always pulled off "a look" - something I never had the guts to do.
She has known her own mind from the beginning - I nursed her for 9 months and she decided one day - that was IT! I want that stuff you eat at the table lady... no more milk from you. I secretly think it bothered her to have to lay down to eat? She has never been a big snuggler, which as a mom is hard, I always wanted to hold her while she slept. She wanted to stretch out in her crib. At least until she was 13 months old and started jumping ship. I'd find her in the guest bed (in her room) sound asleep most mornings. Alas, she got her own bed at that point.
Her first day of Kindergarten she desperately wanted to ride the bus. I was like NO WAY! I'll take you to school honey, you don't have to ride that awful bus. So, I let her ride the bus. I also followed the bus every day for a week the 2 miles it went to drop her off. I took pictures the first day of her getting off the bus at school and she screamed "MAMA what are you DOING here"!!! Like I was a stalker or something. She would be so tired after school (full day Kindergarten) that most days the driver woke her up to get off at our stop.
My girl has always had plenty of friends. Never lacking in social obligations. She has also tried EVERY sport known to man. Even though she really isn't that competitive - she just liked the outfits and uniforms we found out thousands of dollars later. She is a great swimmer but you really need to be concerned about that other people racing against you - she wasn't. We called her the Barbie swimmer. Beautiful to watch but no drive to be first. And she had years to perfect the Barbie freestyle....
5 yrs old to 11 yrs old
We have now come to a sport she picked grudgingly. Golf. Amazing that this child has such a natural ability for it. We would never have guessed. Riley was the first to take up golf and we kinda made Denton do it, too - easier to drive 2 people to one place - right! Now, I catch her watching golf on TV lately. A joy that I'm sure equals paint drying to most. I drop her off at the golf course to practice, drive her to lessons, she participates in 1st Tee and hopes to be a coach at some point. She also longs to be on the high school team. Either this year(if she makes it or next) she has set long term goals with her new love - golf.
In ninth grade all I could think about was not tripping over the curb at school or not making a fool of myself too often. I had no self confidence like my girl does. I also wasn't 5"10', blond, and thin. Maybe that would have helped? Who knows. I'm just so thankful and feel so blessed to have this child that even when she screws up - she's learned to own it. She's not perfect, never will be, but has learned to admit she is wrong and move on. Try not to do a repeat.
When I say she's gracious and has good manners I mean it but she can also be a stubborn, irritating teenager. Stomping around the house, saying nasty things under her breath, slamming doors, torturing her younger sister and the most useful tool she learned from her mother - the eyeball roll. She must have paid close attention to that lesson from mommy :-) OK I should not be proud of that but, it is an art you know.
So, for my beautiful, sweet, pushy daughter - I love you. I feel so close to you. I love when you talk to me about problems and joys. I love that you WANT to talk to me period :-) I love that you grumble in the mornings when I wake you up to run with me. I love that you still want to sit on my lap, watch TV, ride to the grocery store, talk privately when I kiss you good night. I love that you listen when I tell you WHY I wouldn't advise you to do something because I've been there - done it- and it didn't turn out well. I know you'll make mistakes, even the ones I've warned you about but I think you have plenty of sense and you've paid attention over the years.
You make good grades, you are very self reliant, independent, you can cook really well, clean, do laundry, mow grass, clean the yard, use a leaf blower, dig a hole, water a garden, set up a tent, fish, drive a truck, drive a boat, swing the heck out of a golf club and even though it isn't your favorite thing you'll horseback ride with me. It doesn't hurt that your the cutest thing ever!
I love you so much. And even though I yearn for your baby, toddler and little girl years (actually it makes me ache inside to the point of pain)- I am excited watching the person you are becoming. The young woman I see has a bright future. Nothing Ho-Hum for you ...but a life that is full of surprises, full of love, blessings and rewards for hard work.
Happy Birthday - Peapie
love, love, love - Mommy
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Time Flies.....
I just can't believe my sweet little Denton is 14 yrs old today. Hard to believe I had her when I was like 12 - right!? I'll write more tomorrow and share her day with you. I did want to acknowledge her special day. She was born at 2:11 pm and weighed 7lbs 15 oz (not exactly tiny...)
So far our day has been great. She passed her next level of golf certification, had lunch at 5 Guys, got new golf shoes and has a golf lesson at Farmington in a while. I also bought out the Harris Teeter crab legs! Her fave!
Tune in tomorrow while I weep and cry about how my baby is 5'10" tall and hardly fits in my lap, although she tries! I love who she is becoming...and I regret it all at the same time. It's hard to let go....
So far our day has been great. She passed her next level of golf certification, had lunch at 5 Guys, got new golf shoes and has a golf lesson at Farmington in a while. I also bought out the Harris Teeter crab legs! Her fave!
Tune in tomorrow while I weep and cry about how my baby is 5'10" tall and hardly fits in my lap, although she tries! I love who she is becoming...and I regret it all at the same time. It's hard to let go....
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Oliver...makes my heart go pitter pat.....
I love my Oliver doggy...love love love him. He has that sweet face, those big brown eyes, no back talk EVER, kisses galore, he is ALWAYS glad to see me - even if I just walked up to get the mail, you'd think I was gone for hours?- I have some of my favorite pictures of him...
My family is groaning right now- can you hear them - or at the very least, rolling their eyes. They are jealous of Oliver- that's the plain and simple truth... for that reason I have to protect him constantly. :-)
My family is groaning right now- can you hear them - or at the very least, rolling their eyes. They are jealous of Oliver- that's the plain and simple truth... for that reason I have to protect him constantly. :-)
This is when I first got him.
He immediately became best buds with Birdie who was only 4 months old at the time.
As you can see above they both grew bigger and the bed did not...
He has the most wonderful face and yes that is a bow- it has dog paws on it
OK I got them a bigger bed.... neither looks too pleased about it
My love...there's only you in my life...
and then there's this... he looks angry..."He's an angry little elf!"
(name that movie people!)
If he could he may have eaten parts of my face off in my sleep.
But he would NEVER do that. Because he knows I only have his best interest at heart...
Right up until I did this...
I do not dress up my dog - UNLESS there is a great photo op afterward :-)
He has a "God, please please help me" look on his face doesn't he...
that is not to say my children do not torture him...
see why I have to be so vigilant!
again...just think if the leash weren't attached!!!!!
because if I'm not SUPER careful THIS will happen...
Birdie lives a dangerous life in the hands of these kids...
This is how I'd like to think they'd care for Oliver in my absence - with love
and all the fresh hamburger and chicken he can eat
Although, if you really look at Denton's expression - she looks like she could - oh never mind I'm imagining things... right?
and all the fresh hamburger and chicken he can eat
Although, if you really look at Denton's expression - she looks like she could - oh never mind I'm imagining things... right?
Who woulda thunk it....
I have to brag , just a bit, on my oldest child (who BTW, will be 14 tomorrow). She is tall - 5'10", she is thin, she is blond, she has big blue eyes. She is also hilariously funny and is so comfortable with herself that it scares me! She will roll her eyes back in her head, cluck like a chicken and waddle around - and she will do this ANYWHERE at any time.
Many times it is highly inappropriate and she resembles a person with Tourrets Syndrome - and she doesn't care. As long as she makes you laugh. People think she is much older that she is, which also has them thinking she should be acting a little older then 13. I just shrug and walk away and pretend I don't know her.
BUT today, I'm so proud, she got a call from the golf pro at Farmington (a really exclusive golf club here in Cville - Howie Long lives there and there is no way in hell we could EVER afford to have her there for any length of time). He would like to mentor Denton's golf ambition. He saw her during a golf outing last week and came over to her and worked with her for the duration. He was insistent that he could help her - she has talent.
I am always HIGHLY suspicious of men around my children. Right now, Denton in particular. She doesn't look her age and it's frightening. But we had him checked out (I really didn't think he could be all that bad- too many people around here know him and I'll be staying for her lessons) and she starts tomorrow...
After the hellish start to 2010 things are starting to look up - FINALLY. This is just one more event that makes me realize that life goes up and then it goes down. Sometimes WAY, WAY down....
I'm going to enjoy the view I have right now - on the upswing....
Many times it is highly inappropriate and she resembles a person with Tourrets Syndrome - and she doesn't care. As long as she makes you laugh. People think she is much older that she is, which also has them thinking she should be acting a little older then 13. I just shrug and walk away and pretend I don't know her.
BUT today, I'm so proud, she got a call from the golf pro at Farmington (a really exclusive golf club here in Cville - Howie Long lives there and there is no way in hell we could EVER afford to have her there for any length of time). He would like to mentor Denton's golf ambition. He saw her during a golf outing last week and came over to her and worked with her for the duration. He was insistent that he could help her - she has talent.
I am always HIGHLY suspicious of men around my children. Right now, Denton in particular. She doesn't look her age and it's frightening. But we had him checked out (I really didn't think he could be all that bad- too many people around here know him and I'll be staying for her lessons) and she starts tomorrow...
After the hellish start to 2010 things are starting to look up - FINALLY. This is just one more event that makes me realize that life goes up and then it goes down. Sometimes WAY, WAY down....
I'm going to enjoy the view I have right now - on the upswing....
the REST of the story....
after my post yesterday I got a call from Jenny. Her truck overheated (as I said) and she had to be at work at 3 pm. It was not looking good for a timely arrival. It was also raining and she had tired crabby children along for the ride. Thankfully, Mary Ann was behind her by 30 minutes and was able to stop and help. It was also good that she made it to a gas station with a restaurant to stop at. As they had not eaten lunch.
We all know what happens when you are tired and THEN throw in hungry, it equals disaster as far as kids go. They made it home, I picked up Riley and left my horse at Jenny's. It was raining like crazy and I had unhitched my trailer at home so Scott could use my truck because his AC went out....wait - I digress.
Jenny looks like she is about to drop from no sleep and stress and yet has to work - Mary Ann has a wild look about her as well. I'm glad I came home Sunday night. As I'm leaving with a tired Riley Bug Mary Ann yells - "you missed all the fun" - huh?
Riley then proceeds to inform me that they went on a trail ride Sunday late afternoon that should have been like and hour long... they got home at 10:30 PM they got lost and then it got dark and they couldn't see the trail map - had no idea at all where they were...
again, I am glad
#1. I went home Sunday
#2 I did not have any knowledge of this.
I would have called Search and Rescue - the State Police- SWAT - the Governor - a psychic ....
Alas I have my Sugarbunnie home safe...I picked a few more ticks off of her, gave her a shoulder massage, fed her spaghetti and sent her to bed - she is still there, sleeping like a baby at 9:50 am - I wasn't even tempted to let Oliver go in and assault her with his kisses - and that's saying ALOT. I love nothing more than to unleash Oliver's rapid fire tongue on a unsuspecting sleeping child...
We all know what happens when you are tired and THEN throw in hungry, it equals disaster as far as kids go. They made it home, I picked up Riley and left my horse at Jenny's. It was raining like crazy and I had unhitched my trailer at home so Scott could use my truck because his AC went out....wait - I digress.
Jenny looks like she is about to drop from no sleep and stress and yet has to work - Mary Ann has a wild look about her as well. I'm glad I came home Sunday night. As I'm leaving with a tired Riley Bug Mary Ann yells - "you missed all the fun" - huh?
Riley then proceeds to inform me that they went on a trail ride Sunday late afternoon that should have been like and hour long... they got home at 10:30 PM they got lost and then it got dark and they couldn't see the trail map - had no idea at all where they were...
again, I am glad
#1. I went home Sunday
#2 I did not have any knowledge of this.
I would have called Search and Rescue - the State Police- SWAT - the Governor - a psychic ....
Alas I have my Sugarbunnie home safe...I picked a few more ticks off of her, gave her a shoulder massage, fed her spaghetti and sent her to bed - she is still there, sleeping like a baby at 9:50 am - I wasn't even tempted to let Oliver go in and assault her with his kisses - and that's saying ALOT. I love nothing more than to unleash Oliver's rapid fire tongue on a unsuspecting sleeping child...
Monday, July 12, 2010
Girls Rule! Cowgirls that is....
I made it home from my first horse camping trip as an adult! You know the kind where you are in charge. Where if you don't set up the tent you sleep in the car or if you don't figure out the scary Coleman stove you starve ... or if you forget the TP ..... you get the point.
My friends Mary Ann and Jenny and 5 of our girl children went on the trip to James River State Park waaaaaay down in Virginia. Well, 2 hrs or so hauling 1600 pounds of horse butt behind you. I trailered my friend Vicky's horse for me to ride. CiCi is a Norwegian Fjord Draft horse. She is beautiful but young and Vicky wanted miles on her (and to see how close to death I would come trying to get her to cross over a creek!) Mary Ann picked up Merlin (Riley's horse) for me.
We got to the campsite around 4 pm, set up camp, settled the horses in the stalls and had a much deserved beer. Jenny got there after us... we watched a whole bunch of dark clouds moving in, saw some streak lightning (my favorite NOT!) and listened to thunder. I thought, well isn't this gonna be fun. First off I hate camping for various reasons- no potty close enough, no showers close enough, bugs, bears, crows that eat your hot dog buns, peck your apples in 2 places and move to the next apple. You get the point?
So I'm watching this storm moving in (did I mention that I was filthy dirty already, sweating like crazy already and still had a tent to set up!) and I think "PERFECT ! I get to sleep in a tent while the wind howls and we get soaked! Mary Ann offered for Riley and I sleep in her trailer in the bunks by the way. Wonderful friend that she is. The storm seems to blow by a little - we cook dinner - I figured out the stove AND set the tent up (I look at NOAA.GOV and the radar on my phone - YIKES!). Riley is looking at me with blind admiration and is really excited about sleeping in a tent, with mommy, and riding her horse tomorrow. She could care less about the typhoon getting ready to hit that night.
We go up to the showers illegally letting 5 kids ride in the back - is it illegal if you don't get caught? Come home and go to bed. Then it starts raining and it's really humid. Riley asks while reading her scary Nancy Drew mystery "is the rain gonna get in the tent" I lie and say "of course not! I put the rain fly on!"Because I KNOW that no matter what you do, the tarp I put down first, the neat sheet on the floor of the tent, the rain fly. It won't matter if tornadic strength winds blow rain sideways... it will soak on top of the tarp and spread... oh welll....
Thankfully, none of that happened. It rained pretty hard that night. Funny how loud rain is when you are in a tent - I slept maybe 3 hours at best. Riley slept less. We woke up, the rain stopped, the sun came out we ate, tacked up horses and rode for hours!
Only one person got dropped (Jenny's littlest girl hit the ground when a bird flew between her pony's feet) good thing Trixie is a very small pony and Ginger only had a short distance to fall. We had lunch after we put the horses away and went tubing down the James River. Funny thing : the lady in the shop threatened us within an inch of our lives if we got to the pick up point past 6 pm. It was 3 pm and the float is like 1.5 hours. We though, good Lord she's kinda psycho about that pick up time...$12 per hour for every 30 minutes you are late - like we'd EVER do that. What does she take us for ? Irrisponsible hoodlums or sumthin'?
Strangely, we encountered a head wind... not to mention Mary Ann fell asleep in her tube and floated WAAAAY behind and too far to one side. We had to stop and wait while she caught up. Meanwhile we are getting blown back toward the put in area - geesh!
We were all together...we floated and the wind died down a little, we still had to paddle but after 4 rapids and lots of seaweed stuff we made it to the pick up point. BTW not one of us had a watch on. We get there paddling like crazy because the wind is back up. We get in the van ... guess what time it was....????? 6:37 pm... HUH????? The tubing lady let us off with a stern warning and cursed under her breath about headwinds screwing up her dinner plans....
Saturday nite was peaceful. We had spaghetti, bread on a frying pan, salad and BEER! Not the kids..they had Root Beer - we adults had Corona Beer. And well deserved! We built a fire, the kids put on a silly play , we had smores, feed horses, watered horses, mucked stalls, showered and went to bed.
I almost forgot, we got blue lighted buy the park popo for having the kids in the back of the pick up this time. So we had to take 2 cars.. dang cops ruining our fun...
Saturday nite was great camp sleeping weather - cool temps, breezy and a 1/2 a benadryl (for me and Riley)...ahhh good sleep. Sunday morning was socked in with fog first thing but turned clear and sunny quick. We had coffee- cereal, protienCiCi (who was more than eager to get on the trailer and get the heck outta this place! - she told me she would never have agreed to getting on the trailer in the first place had she known WORK was involed) Vicky I think CiCI may have a few words for you. :-)
Ariel and I made it home around 6 pm yesterday - Ariel had been at camp for a week and then went camping with us! She looked like she may drop dead at any moment, her mother and I decided a kid trade would be best for everyone. We got home tired and dirty and smelly - So I turned her towards Denton's bathroom for a real shower and she put on good clothes and then they walked to DQ and I'm pretty sure they didn't eat supper... that's the kind of mom I am...
I personally, slept like the dead in my big king bed (I rhymed) with the tempurpedic mattress - ugh I hate camping. I really do, BUT I'd go again with my girl friends... it made it tolerable and really fun! I do have a few extra bug bites and pulled 2 ticks off Riley before I left yesterday. I haven't heard from Jenny who is bringing Riley home as we speak. I do hope that child behaved and took good care of her horse in my absence - I know she is exhausted and I'll bet she'll be glad to see me when she gets home :-)
Best of all I did NOT trash the tent and I did NOT blow off an arm or put out anyone's eye with the propane stove thing. Life is good....
NOW- it can rain...... I hear thunder.... and Jenny just called and her truck has overheated in Lovingston... oh boy!
ps check my FB page for picks! not of the truck overheating mind you....I'm at home all unpacked and clean...
My friends Mary Ann and Jenny and 5 of our girl children went on the trip to James River State Park waaaaaay down in Virginia. Well, 2 hrs or so hauling 1600 pounds of horse butt behind you. I trailered my friend Vicky's horse for me to ride. CiCi is a Norwegian Fjord Draft horse. She is beautiful but young and Vicky wanted miles on her (and to see how close to death I would come trying to get her to cross over a creek!) Mary Ann picked up Merlin (Riley's horse) for me.
We got to the campsite around 4 pm, set up camp, settled the horses in the stalls and had a much deserved beer. Jenny got there after us... we watched a whole bunch of dark clouds moving in, saw some streak lightning (my favorite NOT!) and listened to thunder. I thought, well isn't this gonna be fun. First off I hate camping for various reasons- no potty close enough, no showers close enough, bugs, bears, crows that eat your hot dog buns, peck your apples in 2 places and move to the next apple. You get the point?
So I'm watching this storm moving in (did I mention that I was filthy dirty already, sweating like crazy already and still had a tent to set up!) and I think "PERFECT ! I get to sleep in a tent while the wind howls and we get soaked! Mary Ann offered for Riley and I sleep in her trailer in the bunks by the way. Wonderful friend that she is. The storm seems to blow by a little - we cook dinner - I figured out the stove AND set the tent up (I look at NOAA.GOV and the radar on my phone - YIKES!). Riley is looking at me with blind admiration and is really excited about sleeping in a tent, with mommy, and riding her horse tomorrow. She could care less about the typhoon getting ready to hit that night.
We go up to the showers illegally letting 5 kids ride in the back - is it illegal if you don't get caught? Come home and go to bed. Then it starts raining and it's really humid. Riley asks while reading her scary Nancy Drew mystery "is the rain gonna get in the tent" I lie and say "of course not! I put the rain fly on!"Because I KNOW that no matter what you do, the tarp I put down first, the neat sheet on the floor of the tent, the rain fly. It won't matter if tornadic strength winds blow rain sideways... it will soak on top of the tarp and spread... oh welll....
Thankfully, none of that happened. It rained pretty hard that night. Funny how loud rain is when you are in a tent - I slept maybe 3 hours at best. Riley slept less. We woke up, the rain stopped, the sun came out we ate, tacked up horses and rode for hours!
Only one person got dropped (Jenny's littlest girl hit the ground when a bird flew between her pony's feet) good thing Trixie is a very small pony and Ginger only had a short distance to fall. We had lunch after we put the horses away and went tubing down the James River. Funny thing : the lady in the shop threatened us within an inch of our lives if we got to the pick up point past 6 pm. It was 3 pm and the float is like 1.5 hours. We though, good Lord she's kinda psycho about that pick up time...$12 per hour for every 30 minutes you are late - like we'd EVER do that. What does she take us for ? Irrisponsible hoodlums or sumthin'?
Strangely, we encountered a head wind... not to mention Mary Ann fell asleep in her tube and floated WAAAAY behind and too far to one side. We had to stop and wait while she caught up. Meanwhile we are getting blown back toward the put in area - geesh!
We were all together...we floated and the wind died down a little, we still had to paddle but after 4 rapids and lots of seaweed stuff we made it to the pick up point. BTW not one of us had a watch on. We get there paddling like crazy because the wind is back up. We get in the van ... guess what time it was....????? 6:37 pm... HUH????? The tubing lady let us off with a stern warning and cursed under her breath about headwinds screwing up her dinner plans....
Saturday nite was peaceful. We had spaghetti, bread on a frying pan, salad and BEER! Not the kids..they had Root Beer - we adults had Corona Beer. And well deserved! We built a fire, the kids put on a silly play , we had smores, feed horses, watered horses, mucked stalls, showered and went to bed.
I almost forgot, we got blue lighted buy the park popo for having the kids in the back of the pick up this time. So we had to take 2 cars.. dang cops ruining our fun...
Saturday nite was great camp sleeping weather - cool temps, breezy and a 1/2 a benadryl (for me and Riley)...ahhh good sleep. Sunday morning was socked in with fog first thing but turned clear and sunny quick. We had coffee- cereal, protienCiCi (who was more than eager to get on the trailer and get the heck outta this place! - she told me she would never have agreed to getting on the trailer in the first place had she known WORK was involed) Vicky I think CiCI may have a few words for you. :-)
Ariel and I made it home around 6 pm yesterday - Ariel had been at camp for a week and then went camping with us! She looked like she may drop dead at any moment, her mother and I decided a kid trade would be best for everyone. We got home tired and dirty and smelly - So I turned her towards Denton's bathroom for a real shower and she put on good clothes and then they walked to DQ and I'm pretty sure they didn't eat supper... that's the kind of mom I am...
I personally, slept like the dead in my big king bed (I rhymed) with the tempurpedic mattress - ugh I hate camping. I really do, BUT I'd go again with my girl friends... it made it tolerable and really fun! I do have a few extra bug bites and pulled 2 ticks off Riley before I left yesterday. I haven't heard from Jenny who is bringing Riley home as we speak. I do hope that child behaved and took good care of her horse in my absence - I know she is exhausted and I'll bet she'll be glad to see me when she gets home :-)
Best of all I did NOT trash the tent and I did NOT blow off an arm or put out anyone's eye with the propane stove thing. Life is good....
NOW- it can rain...... I hear thunder.... and Jenny just called and her truck has overheated in Lovingston... oh boy!
ps check my FB page for picks! not of the truck overheating mind you....I'm at home all unpacked and clean...
Friday, July 9, 2010
Time to hit the trail...
This is it! The horse camping weekend...Jenny, Mary Ann, myself and 5 kids are going to James River to horse camp.
Normally, it takes an act of Congress to get me to camp. I just don't like it. Last time I went with my family was 6 yrs ago or so. If horses were not involved I would not be going. As much as I love my friends I would never agree to camp with them without the horse option. I did find out there is a REAL potty and REAL showers. That helps. No turn down service though :-(
I have never set the tent up alone, I have never used the camp stove alone (the propane bottle things scare me actually), I have never used the percolator alone, there is no electricity to dry my hair (that should be interesting), no place to charge my phone, no AC. I have never camped without a man present to do all that stuff. Throw 2 horses into the mix and I'm not sure I'll ever go back but I'll try it once. I have also been threatened within and inch of my life if I wreck Scott's Kelty Eureka tent??? What's that all about? If I am found mysteriously dead - well, you have the answer.
I'll be sure and take tons of pics for FaceBk - although, I find riding and photography combined can be distracting. We are tubing one day on the river which reminds me I need the waterproof bags... and wouldn't you know it's supposed to rain!
BTW Denton has refused to participate...she states she hates horses and will only camp when forced under family law (and that happens in Oct when Scott takes them Daddy camping - no potty, no shower and there ARE bears! No thank ya!
Normally, it takes an act of Congress to get me to camp. I just don't like it. Last time I went with my family was 6 yrs ago or so. If horses were not involved I would not be going. As much as I love my friends I would never agree to camp with them without the horse option. I did find out there is a REAL potty and REAL showers. That helps. No turn down service though :-(
I have never set the tent up alone, I have never used the camp stove alone (the propane bottle things scare me actually), I have never used the percolator alone, there is no electricity to dry my hair (that should be interesting), no place to charge my phone, no AC. I have never camped without a man present to do all that stuff. Throw 2 horses into the mix and I'm not sure I'll ever go back but I'll try it once. I have also been threatened within and inch of my life if I wreck Scott's Kelty Eureka tent??? What's that all about? If I am found mysteriously dead - well, you have the answer.
I'll be sure and take tons of pics for FaceBk - although, I find riding and photography combined can be distracting. We are tubing one day on the river which reminds me I need the waterproof bags... and wouldn't you know it's supposed to rain!
BTW Denton has refused to participate...she states she hates horses and will only camp when forced under family law (and that happens in Oct when Scott takes them Daddy camping - no potty, no shower and there ARE bears! No thank ya!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Morning Sunshine!
Good Lord it is hot as heck again today! I thought the weather liar said 92 degrees! I was really excited about this artic blast. But when I dragged Denton out of bed to run at 8 am it was already humid and gross and getin hot...
Once again I drove the kids to golf, then I went home to start organizing for this girl weekend of horse camping, then the grocery store then to golf for pick up. Lunch at Chipolte Grill yummy! Doctors appt for Denton's school physical to try out for golf and track. Came home dropped off Denton, picked up my horse trailer from Jenny's, picked up my horse from Karen's (thank you Jesus he loaded with no issues today) then took the horse to Jenny's where he is now frolicing with Ellie...
Tomorrow better be cooler - just sayin'
K
Once again I drove the kids to golf, then I went home to start organizing for this girl weekend of horse camping, then the grocery store then to golf for pick up. Lunch at Chipolte Grill yummy! Doctors appt for Denton's school physical to try out for golf and track. Came home dropped off Denton, picked up my horse trailer from Jenny's, picked up my horse from Karen's (thank you Jesus he loaded with no issues today) then took the horse to Jenny's where he is now frolicing with Ellie...
Tomorrow better be cooler - just sayin'
K
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Can it get any hotter?
I just went to the grocery store to get lettuce (I'm so sad my lettuce is over for now, sniff sniff) I think that if you are hot and you just can't stand it you need to send someone that can stand the heat to the store for you.
Isn't it illegal to not wear a bra after a certain age? And men should wear shirts in public (stores, ect...) cause everyone doesn't look like Daniel Craig shirtless. And going braless, does it "cool you off" really??? I think not.
And yes you AND your children have to wear your shoes in the grocery store!!!! I made my kids wear theirs! It's the rule, law, ect... errr! I'd rather go spend another morning in the DMV...well, not really.
Isn't it illegal to not wear a bra after a certain age? And men should wear shirts in public (stores, ect...) cause everyone doesn't look like Daniel Craig shirtless. And going braless, does it "cool you off" really??? I think not.
And yes you AND your children have to wear your shoes in the grocery store!!!! I made my kids wear theirs! It's the rule, law, ect... errr! I'd rather go spend another morning in the DMV...well, not really.
Some one get the smellin' salts!
Today I start a new blog. I haven't used the old one in a few years. Actually, I have an unhealthy addiction to facebook and I quit writing & posting on the old blog. I am pretty sure all 560+ of my closest FB friends do not give a flip or want to know the chaos I live in daily. Therefore, I spare them my rantings - most of the time.
This is not to say I will not post on FB, I am addicted remember! But this will be more of my whining, complaining and more personal stuff. (I'm pretty sure my family just rolled their eyes) trust me I would never hurt anyone on here...embarrass the heck out of you YES! but intentionally hurt feelings NO! That's not how I roll. I also get to ooze about how great my doggie Oliver is...he is my 3rd child..the son I never had... (I think I just felt the eyeball roll again)
Right now in the beautiful, yet liberal confines, of Charlottesville, Virginia it is hot as 3 hells! (thank you Lee for the quote). We left Camden SC (God's Country) after a 4th of July at the lake and drove straight into a furnace. It was in the upper 80's in SC, a God send. And it was 103 when we landed in our driveway on Monday.
We traveled 350 miles with 2 adults, 3 children (the oldest girl took a friend), 2 big dogs that panted, drooled and nawed relentlessly on pig femurs. Pig femurs smell bad. And last was the best passenger of all Oliver. He slept..on my lap...the whole ride. The children ate all the snacks in the 1st hour, then were hungry for lunch at 11am and then watched horror movies.
Please take note: one should NEVER let a child watch a horror movie in the car wth headphones. Why Karen, you ask? Because children
1. should not watch them, it leads to nightmares.
2. they suck in their breath and you think an 18 wheeler is barreling down on you *but... it's.... not.
3. they scream randomly and you think a dog has run in front of the truck or it just scares the crap out of you and causes swerving.
Who let them rent those movies anyway? We think "anything for a peaceful 5+ hour ride".
After 2 days of Wateree Lake tube rides & tube burns, getting pulled by DNR on many occassions, 2 fireworks displays (one that went well & one that was busted up by the po-po), packing 8 people in a golf cart in the pitch black dark with no flashlight to get from my parents next door neighbors house to theirs (its a 1/2 mile away), getting to see my granmother who is almost 97, being with my entire family, eating enough food to encourage me to run in 100 degree weather for the past 2 days, drinking enough Corona Light to hit the wagon for a week and giving myself a huge case of homesick - we came back to Va.
Don't get me wrong, I love the state of Va. Mountains, beaches, the Chesapeake Bay, history galore! I just tend to not feel settled here. Not all the way. Not the way I do in SC. When I talk of traveling to SC I'll say to a friend "Oh we are going home for a few days". They've all asked "Home? You live here, here's your house Karen, I'm sitting in your family room." Nope- SC is home. I have issues with truly liberal people (and a pile of them are right here in Cville). I think if you work hard you deserve to make it far in the world. If you don't...we'll maybe you are being weeded out? Or hopefully, if you can't, there is a hard worker in your family that can help.
Before someone yells at me- I'm not talking about the truly disabled, the elderly, ect... I'm talking about people that work the system - I will digress..... BUT I live in a county that wants everyone to have everything that all the hard working people have - even if they don't work.... go figure.
I also live in a neighborhood. Which is a bad thing, for me at least. My neighbors are not fond of my little band of truents (dogs & kids & OK, me, too). I need space, open space. I need my horse in my backyard, chickens and a goat because I am "afreared" of poison ivy. A garden spot in a place that my chicken wire fence doesn't draw stares and doesn't incite photos being turned into the community association...
I feel like most days I am so simple and low maintainance that if I got anymore laid back I'd be dead. I do have my moments. On occassion, I have no guilt in sitting on my porch and reading a book all day. Other days I'm driving kids to golf, horseback riding, the mall, friend's houses, my husband to the Audi dealership to get that old as heck car fixed one more time. I hate being inside. Unless it is REALLY cold- like it was this winter. I hate inside because that's where the laundry pile awaits and I'm not good at laundry - ask anyone on a Monday morning looking for clean undies. Plus there is chocolate inside and it calls me from it's hiding place...
This is not to say I will not post on FB, I am addicted remember! But this will be more of my whining, complaining and more personal stuff. (I'm pretty sure my family just rolled their eyes) trust me I would never hurt anyone on here...embarrass the heck out of you YES! but intentionally hurt feelings NO! That's not how I roll. I also get to ooze about how great my doggie Oliver is...he is my 3rd child..the son I never had... (I think I just felt the eyeball roll again)
Right now in the beautiful, yet liberal confines, of Charlottesville, Virginia it is hot as 3 hells! (thank you Lee for the quote). We left Camden SC (God's Country) after a 4th of July at the lake and drove straight into a furnace. It was in the upper 80's in SC, a God send. And it was 103 when we landed in our driveway on Monday.
We traveled 350 miles with 2 adults, 3 children (the oldest girl took a friend), 2 big dogs that panted, drooled and nawed relentlessly on pig femurs. Pig femurs smell bad. And last was the best passenger of all Oliver. He slept..on my lap...the whole ride. The children ate all the snacks in the 1st hour, then were hungry for lunch at 11am and then watched horror movies.
Please take note: one should NEVER let a child watch a horror movie in the car wth headphones. Why Karen, you ask? Because children
1. should not watch them, it leads to nightmares.
2. they suck in their breath and you think an 18 wheeler is barreling down on you *but... it's.... not.
3. they scream randomly and you think a dog has run in front of the truck or it just scares the crap out of you and causes swerving.
Who let them rent those movies anyway? We think "anything for a peaceful 5+ hour ride".
After 2 days of Wateree Lake tube rides & tube burns, getting pulled by DNR on many occassions, 2 fireworks displays (one that went well & one that was busted up by the po-po), packing 8 people in a golf cart in the pitch black dark with no flashlight to get from my parents next door neighbors house to theirs (its a 1/2 mile away), getting to see my granmother who is almost 97, being with my entire family, eating enough food to encourage me to run in 100 degree weather for the past 2 days, drinking enough Corona Light to hit the wagon for a week and giving myself a huge case of homesick - we came back to Va.
Don't get me wrong, I love the state of Va. Mountains, beaches, the Chesapeake Bay, history galore! I just tend to not feel settled here. Not all the way. Not the way I do in SC. When I talk of traveling to SC I'll say to a friend "Oh we are going home for a few days". They've all asked "Home? You live here, here's your house Karen, I'm sitting in your family room." Nope- SC is home. I have issues with truly liberal people (and a pile of them are right here in Cville). I think if you work hard you deserve to make it far in the world. If you don't...we'll maybe you are being weeded out? Or hopefully, if you can't, there is a hard worker in your family that can help.
Before someone yells at me- I'm not talking about the truly disabled, the elderly, ect... I'm talking about people that work the system - I will digress..... BUT I live in a county that wants everyone to have everything that all the hard working people have - even if they don't work.... go figure.
I also live in a neighborhood. Which is a bad thing, for me at least. My neighbors are not fond of my little band of truents (dogs & kids & OK, me, too). I need space, open space. I need my horse in my backyard, chickens and a goat because I am "afreared" of poison ivy. A garden spot in a place that my chicken wire fence doesn't draw stares and doesn't incite photos being turned into the community association...
I feel like most days I am so simple and low maintainance that if I got anymore laid back I'd be dead. I do have my moments. On occassion, I have no guilt in sitting on my porch and reading a book all day. Other days I'm driving kids to golf, horseback riding, the mall, friend's houses, my husband to the Audi dealership to get that old as heck car fixed one more time. I hate being inside. Unless it is REALLY cold- like it was this winter. I hate inside because that's where the laundry pile awaits and I'm not good at laundry - ask anyone on a Monday morning looking for clean undies. Plus there is chocolate inside and it calls me from it's hiding place...
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